West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-05-27
HOW MEN DIE IN BATTLE.
War as Seen BY a Private OF an
Observant Turn---Death and
Wounds in the Ranks.

the war stories which are written
from the standpoint Of men who
were not in the fight, or, being tsere,
treat of the struggle in a general
and tactical way;
Almost every death on the battle
field is different. And the manner
of the death depends on the wound
and on the man, whether he IS cow
ardlv or brave, whether his vitality
/ is LARGE or small, whether he Is a
man of active imagination or is dull
of intellect, whether he is Of nervous
or symphatic temperament. l in
| stance deaths and wounds that |
saw in Grants last campaign.
On the second day of the battle of
/ the Wilderness, when l fought rs an
infantry soldier, l saw more men
/ killed and wounded than | did be
| fore or after the same time. l knew
but few of the men in the regiment
i'm whose ranks l stood, but | learned
| the Christian names of some of them.
/ The man who stood next to me on
my right was called Will. He was
cool. brave and intelligent In the
morning when the second corps was
advancing and driving Hills sol
| diers slowly back, l was hurried. He
noticed it, and Steadied my nerves
| by saving kindly: Don't fire so
fast. This fight will last all day.
| Don't hurry Cover your man before
YOU pull your trigger. Take it easy,
my boys, take it easy, and your cart
ridges will last the longer This
man fought effectively. During the
I dav l had learned to look up to this
excellent soldier and lean on him.
Toward evening, as we were being
slowly driven back to the Brock
road bv LongStreet's men, we made
stand. was behind tree firing,
with my rifle barrel resting on the
.ub OF a limb. Will was standing
by my side but in the open. He,
with groan, doubled up, and drop
ped on the ground at my feet. He
looked mp at me- His face was pale.
He gasped for breath a few times,
and then said family: That ends
me. / am shot through the bowels. %
said: Crawl to the rear. We are
not fa, from the intrenchments along
the Brock road" l saw him sit up,
and indistinctly saw him reach for
| his rifle. which had fallen from his
| hands as he fell. Again | spoke to
/ him to 90 TO the rear. He looked at
me and said impatiently: Il tell
Won that am rs good as dead. There
/ is no use in tooling with me. l shall
stav here" Then he pitched for
ward. dead. shot again and through
I the head. We fell back before Long
streets soldiers and left Will lying
in windrow of dead men.
When we got in the Brock road
intrencements a man a few files to
nv left dropped dead, shot just
above the right eye. He did not
/ groan or sigh OF make the slightest
, physical movement, except that his
I chest heaved few times. The life
went out of his face instantly. leav-
ING it without a particle of EXPIRES
sion. 1t was plastic, and, rs the
facial muscles contracted, it took
many shapes. When this man 5
body became cold and his face hard
ened it was horribly distorted, as
though he had suffered intensely.
/ ANY person who had not seen him
killed would have said that he en-
| dured supreme agony before death
released him. \ few minutes after
he fell, another man, q little farther
to the left, fell with apparently a
precisely similar wound He was
Strengthened out and lived for over
an hour. He did not speak. Simply
lqv on his back, and mis- broad chest
rose and fell, slowly at first, and
then faster and faster, and more and
more fceblv, until he was dead. And
his face hardened, and twas almost
terrifying in its painful distortion.
/ 1 have seen dead soldiers faces
which were wreathed in smiles, and
heard their comrades say that they
had died happy. l do not believe
that the face of dead sOldeier, ly-
inc on battlefield, ever truthfully
indicates the mental or physical an
/ guish, or peacefulness of mind which
he suffered or enjoyed before his
death. The face is plastic after
. death, and, as the facial muscles
cool and contract, they draw the
face into many shapes. Sometimes
the dead smile, again they stare with
/ CLASSY eyes and lolling tongues and
dreadfUlly distorted visages at you.
/ 1t goes for nothing. One death was
as painless as the other.
After Longstreets soldiers had
driven the second corps into their
intreuchments along the Brock road.
battlc-eNhausted infantrymau
stood behind a large oak tree. His
back rested against it. He was very
tired, and held his rifle loosely in
his hand. The Confederates were
directly in our front. This soldier
was apparently in perfect safety. A
solid shot from a Confederate gun